The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (“DEED”) recently published rules interpreting and clarifying some of the requirements in Minnesota’s Paid Family Medical Leave Law (“MPLL”), which is codified at Chapter 268B. The “Adopted Expedited Rules Regulating Paid Sick Leave” (“Rules”) provide at least some guidance for a complicated set of legal requirements set to take effect January 1, 2026.
The Rules are contained within Chapter 3317, and some of the more pertinent provisions are highlighted here:
- Employees have an obligation to attest to DEED that the employee provided proper notice to the employer in connection with an application for paid leave benefits. The Rules set out a process whereby the employer can challenge the notice which, if upheld, may delay the leave;
- The Rules make clear employers have affirmative reporting requirements including, for example, an obligation to notify DEED of supplemental benefit payments paid to employees;
- The Rules address situations where an employee seeks to end a leave early, extend an approved leave, or change an intermittent work schedule. Employees have certain notice and reporting obligations to both DEED and the employer and there are processes for employers to challenge those notifications;
- The Rules contain provisions that cover certain employer/employee disputes about intermittent leave; specifically, whether the employee made a “reasonable effort” to share the need for a leave and proposed schedule before applying with DEED for benefits;
- Finally, the Rules address requirements for private plans to file amendments to the plan, employee notice requirements, and obligations to provide employees with requested information about a claim for benefits.
Bottom Line
The Rules provide some helpful guidance with respect to the topics covered. However, in a perfect world, the Rules would have gone further to address some of the more nuanced provisions contained in MPLL such as, coordination of employer provided “supplemental” benefits, the “camouflaged” minimum wage requirements surrounding employee premium deductions, and the limitations on waivers and releases of claims under MPLL. But, at this point, we’ll take what we can get as we prepare for implementation of MPLL. Continue to be on the lookout for updates throughout the Fall.